by Julia Rose Lewis, longtime Serendipian, and James Miller
May, 2017
WRITERS’ CENTRE KINGSTON PRESENTED A LITERARY EVENT ABOUT
REMEMBERING on November 9th 2017 at Picton room, Kingston
Not Lost I
the ghosts of salmon
millions of fish escaping
to swim in the sea
something like easter eggs
that he juggled not
something like testicles that
he juggled like
tinker bell her fairy lights
to miss the pewter
iolite punning and not
sleeping yet waltzing
ashes floating slowly down
the train the long pipe
that feeds the salmon alive
almost saving wild
fish stocks except the sea lice
antibiotics
the trespassing seals shot dead
Not Lost II
as first world a poem
as blue velvet cake because
dolphin awareness
swims through your veins like a fish
in the sea, follow
the red food coloring not
coloring the red
velvet the first day of spring
the magenta cake
my sister wanted beet root
because of cancer
vanilla and beaver tails
yellow the wish and
the swish of their castor sacs
aphrodisiac
Not Lost III
I saw the ghosts of
oysters drift away as smoke
as slivers as I
saw the body of the white
rabbit. My present
is shellfish, sand, and ashes.
Not seeding oyster-
like tumors on computed
tomography, and
the position emission
tomography ghost,
not testing for the grey-white
pearls in the tissue.
I saw the silk inclusions
thickening the air
before the velvet to blue
to violet wish
blue with medium dark tones
Serendip is home.
Not Lost IV
My present is three,
the princes of Serendip:
mother, father, and
the one who gifted you the
jacket. Let the scarf
be a turban when in doubt.
Let the last voyage
of somebody the sailor,
author of the sot
weed factor not rolling
either. When in doubt
throw Grobstein on the table
of Sinbad and wait
for some permission to smoke.
Not Lost V
Overwhelming how
it makes me want to cry all
over an ostrich
Not Lost VI
I saw the ghost of the white
flemish giant was
two boxes of halloumi
later. I knew to
use a lighter as bottle-
opener in the
time before the zeroing
event. This time then
the white rabbit would eat with
ease, nineteen peppers,
and you besides. The lettuce
heads under the sky.
I saw not clouding over
another flat white.
Not Lost VII
after 11/4/17
Holding the pattern
on the back of the oyster
shell, is the pattern
on the outside of the bear
skin. My borrowed skin.
This forest is a grey sieve,
of mint little wish
filters, not slicing through time.
Diamond, not key
to stone animals bearing
spoons, as shellfish skin.
Never, never, vast station
in the bay waters,
dear bear, rest if a grey sieve.
Not Lost VIII
The answer is red-
orange as salmon roe cast
shadows on the ghost of her. Here is
the biologist
developmental never
never embryos. Deuterostomes, t
heir central nervous
system lies on the dorsal
side, protostomes on the ventral side.
As promised upside-
down, the kitten is twisting
the hearts of deuterostomes always
lie on the ventral
side. See how similar the
body plan can invert the mouth and
anus position.
The abject biology
promises that forever we will
never get better
at growing up and learning
to lie. From the heart to the head, not
losing the red year
the lantern, the history,
someone else's salmon dip as well.
Sour the cream of ghosts
anassa kata, kalo
kale, ia ia ia nike, bryn mawr
bryn mawr bryn mawr...
Not Lost IX
Not my sushi roll,
dear oyster toadfish swimming
foghorn-like fish. I
miss the hum of opsanus
tau, the ugly toad
lies still, and waiting for prey,
grey-black camouflaged
fins and all silent. Oyster
cracker here yellow
oh wishes brown the butter,
bar dog, bare the young
toadfish stay attached to their
yolk. They do not learn
to swim until their yolk is
translated into
energy, not lost. Learning
to swim in space? Please
trade a handstand for kissing
underwater is
choking on the father of
all oyster toadfish,
there eyes are a purple-black.
Not Lost X
When in doubt throw the
shadow of the black rabbit
on the table with
irony on irony.
When all is said and
sugar plums are not burning
but turning turning.
Bear to berries purple-black
place to Lanka to
Sihala to Lakdiva
to Serendib to
Ceylon sapphire. When in doubt
throw the ghost of the
white rabbit on the table.
Works Cited
From Serendip
About Serendip
Variability in Brain Function and Behavior
For Our First Time Visitors
Introductory Science: Experiments in Bridging Cultures
Science and Religion, Faith and Revision: A Conversation
Kate Shiner, Anne Dalke, Ann Dixon and Paul Grobstein
Paul Grobstein's Blog